UPDATE: 11:00 AM EST
According to the Associated Press, Russian foreign minister says Moscow will push Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control.
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In a “CBS This Morning” interview set to air Monday night on PBS, Syrian president Bashar Assad gave Charlie Rose the exclusive on what will happen if the U.S. moves forward with military retaliation to his country.
“You should expect everything… expect every action,” Assad said. “Not necessarily from the government.”
He even indicated that the retaliation to a military strike towards Syria (brought on by suspicions that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people) will have ramifications beyond what America expects. Referencing his allies in Iran and the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, he warned that Syria was not the “only player in this region.”
“You have different parties, you have different factions, you have different ideology. You have everything in this region now.”
And when asked if he would use chemical weapons against the U.S., he sent this message:
“[It would depend] if the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any other group have it. It could happen, I don’t know. I am not fortune teller.”
It was a cryptic message, meant to support his earlier claim that the U.S. has no evidence that he used chemical weapons to kill nearly 1,400 Syrians on August 21.
In the meantime, Secretary of State John Kerry is giving Assad an ultimatum.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that Syrian President Bashar Assad could resolve the crisis surrounding his purported use of chemical weapons by turning “every single bit” of his arsenal over to the international community by the end of the week.
That doesn’t seem too likely, however. From the looks of Assad’s calm nature and resolve (watch video above), he’s not going to budge any time soon.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest out of Syria.
